The Pain of Remembering Is Deep, But the Danger in Forgetting Is Far Worse

The Tale of a Daring Night Raid That Vindicated Japanese Americans

By Andrea Pitzer

In spring 1941, months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a team led by U.S. Naval Intelligence officer Kenneth Ringle broke into the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles.

One man stayed downstairs to guard the elevator while the rest snuck upstairs using skeleton keys to make their way to the back rooms. They brought along a safecracker—a convicted felon sprung for one night to help them—as well as local policemen and FBI …

Surveillance, Government Secrecy, and an Unpredictable Political Landscape Raise Difficult Questions

By Reed Johnson

In December 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor was the “trigger moment” that eventually led the U.S. government to herd tens of thousands of Japanese Americans into internment camps. If some explosive incident were to occur during Donald Trump’s presidency, could it provoke a similar mass round-up of Muslims, immigrants, or some other ethnic or religious group? …

The Only "Precedent” for the Proposed Muslim Registry Is Conflicted Legal Thinking

By Julian Lim

In 2014, a group of law students at the University of Hawaii asked Justice Antonin Scalia to comment on the Korematsu case, the infamous 1944 Supreme Court decision that upheld Japanese American internment during World War II. “Well, of course, Korematsu was wrong,” he said. “But,” he added, “you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again.” It may be wrong and void of justification, but, in an environment infused with fear, panic, and antipathy against a minority group, “that’s what happens,” Scalia observed. “It is …